At half past one in the morning, the first striking force returned to Baoding City.

The result was far worse than the brigade commander thought.

The deputy chief of staff and the leader of the group walked up to the brigade commander with their heads down: "General, the specific losses of the troops attacking on the eastern route have been counted. ”

The brigade commander is most concerned about how many troops he has at hand now, and he immediately asked: "You just need to tell me how many troops from the east gate are left to continue fighting, and I don't want to hear about other losses, so as not to affect my mood." ”

"I have just received an latest telegram from the blockade line, which clearly records the strength and equipment of the garrison through the blockade line."

"In addition to a cavalry battalion of at least five hundred men, the garrison regiment dispatched an anti-aircraft battalion, a heavy artillery battalion equivalent to a heavy artillery regiment, an armored company with twenty combat vehicles and armed vehicles, and more than two thousand infantry."

"With so many troops killed outside Baoding City, if there are too few troops defending the city, they will definitely not be able to stop the attack of the garrison."

The captain's head lowered even deeper, not knowing how to answer.

The deputy chief of staff could only stand up and report on his own: "General, there are 516 people left in the East Gate Sortie Force to continue fighting, and they have brought back 218 light and serious wounded." ”

"The biggest losses were the heavy machine gun units and artillery units, twenty heavy machine guns and twenty mortars were brought out, and only five heavy machine guns and six mortars were brought back just now, and all the other heavy weapons were thrown outside the city!"

"If nothing else, these heavy weapons should have fallen into the hands of the garrison."

The brigade commander's face suddenly pulled down.

It was my decision to take the initiative, and now that I am playing like this, I can't help but push the responsibility to others.

stared at the captain and scolded angrily: "How did you do it, more than 1,000 people went out of the city, and they lost so many troops in just two or three hours, what are you doing as a captain." ”

"Humble is willing to take all the responsibility!" The captain didn't dare to say a word of justification, so he could only answer with his head down.

The brigade commander became even more angry: "Can you take responsibility and get back the hundreds of soldiers who have been lost?" ”

"The garrison may attack at any time, you can bring me this little force, it is not enough to defend the city wall of Baoding City."

"The general is angry." The deputy chief of staff reminded in due course.

"The enemy is currently employing people, and if they want to be punished, they will wait until the battle is over.

"There is one thing that I am worried about: the eastern route attack force has only returned more than 500 combatable soldiers, and the other three route attack troops have not returned, and the losses must be very large, so it is good that the attack force can come back with 2,000 people."

"There are only more than 2,000 troops in the city who have not left the city, and there are only more than 4,000 people in total, and it is too difficult to hold Baoding City!"

The brigade commander agreed: "There are definitely not enough troops. ”

"The garrison regiment dispatched nearly a regiment of heavy artillery, and if you use these guns well, a single shell can kill one of our infantry squads if it hits the city."

"There are also chariot troops, once the city wall is blown out of a gap by heavy artillery, the Eighth Route Army can enter the city under the cover of chariots."

"In order to defend Baoding City, we are bound to send a large number of troops to plug the gap, just this point of troops in the city, after dispersing to each city wall, it would be good to have a thousand mobile troops left, what to do to plug the gap."

"Immediately send a telegram to the chief of staff and the third infantry brigade, asking them to stop encircling and suppressing the Eighth Route Army and return to the county seat!"

As time passed, the atmosphere in the war room became more and more depressing.

Bad news kept coming in, the four routes of the troops, the east route of the attack troops turned out to be the smallest, the worst was the north route of the troops, only brought back more than 300 intact soldiers.

Of course, this is not the most desperate for the brigade commander.

The deputy chief of staff hurriedly walked over, his expression was very heavy, and he took all the staff officers in the war room before reporting: "General, the chief of staff and the third infantry brigade seem to have an accident!" ”

"No matter how we called by radio, they didn't respond."

"What ......" the brigade commander was anxious.

The two sweeping troops are the key to whether they can hold Baoding City, and they must not have an accident.

grabbed the deputy chief of staff by the collar, his eyes were red, and he stared at him and asked, "You repeat what you just said, what happened to the chief of staff and the third infantry brigade?" ”

"The general is angry!" The deputy chief of staff gasped for breath, his face flushed with suffocation, and replied with a painful expression.

"We kept calling the chief of staff and the 3rd Infantry Brigade on the radio, and for almost half an hour, there was no response from either unit."

"Could it be that the radio station is broken? Or the troops are chasing the Eighth Route Army, and the radio is on the march and is not turned on! The brigade commander still couldn't believe the result, and asked rhetorically with the last glimmer of hope.

The deputy chief of staff replied: "These lowly positions have been considered, but the probability is very low. ”

"Both the Chief of Staff and the 3rd Infantry Brigade brought reserve radios, and even if one radio was destroyed in battle, it was impossible for both radios to be destroyed at the same time."

"In order to determine the safety of the mopping forces during the battle, the brigade command has specially ordered the attacking troops to send us a safety signal every five hours."

"Now six hours have passed since the last signal, even if they are fighting and chasing the Eighth Route Army, it will not be two minutes."

"If I'm not mistaken, the two troops have never missed a signal since they left the city, and tonight is the first time."

"Did something really happen to them?" Gradually, the brigade commander began to believe in this fact.

Let go of the deputy chief of staff and stare at him, hoping that he can give himself a different answer at the last minute.

The deputy chief of staff lowered his head: "General, there is ninety percent certainty that something has happened to them." ”

"But whatever the final outcome, we have to prepare for the worst."

The last hope of the brigade commander was shattered, and as soon as he sat on the chair, his whole body seemed to be paralyzed, and his whole body was weak.

After two minutes, he slowly regained his composure, stood up from his chair with force, and strode to the sand table for analysis.

"The garrison is menacing, and it will definitely not last long with more than 4,000 people in the city alone."

"The Chief of Staff and the 3rd Infantry Brigade are hopeless, and we can only rely on foreign aid."

"I just looked, within a radius of 100 kilometers, the largest garrison is Yi County."

"I will send a telegram to the front army headquarters now, and transfer troops from the surrounding counties to reinforce Baoding."

"Especially the Yixian garrison, at least three thousand people will be sent to reinforce us."

"The front army stationed heavy troops in Yi County is to prevent the garrison regiment from developing in the direction of Beiping, and now that the main force of the garrison regiment has come to Baoding, Yi County does not need to defend so many troops, and it is completely possible to send heavy troops to support us."

"Other surrounding counties should also send troops, creating a posture of the garrison being surrounded by us, so that they will have concerns and reduce the pressure on our defense."

Today's second more delivery! Ask for a subscription! Ask for a commuter pass! Collect!